Write Like No One Is Looking

If you write then you need to ask yourself a question: who are you writing for?

Are you writing for yourself, for your readers, or for money? Whatever your answer, it doesn’t make you a better or worse writer or person. It just means that you go about writing in a certain way. You think about writing in a certain way.

At the moment I write for myself.

When I start a project I don’t think about how a reader might react or if it will make me money. I think about what it is doing for me.

Just the other day I was writing about a little hobgoblin called Tuwop whose hobbies including knitting, correcting grammar, and eating human flesh. certainly the vast majority of people wouldn’t be interested in such things, or so I presume, but Tuwop and I had a wondrously fun adventure together and that’s all that really matters.

Now, that’s not to say writing for money is a bad thing. We all have to earn a living after all. But, if that’s the only reason why you write, you might need to think about a career change. Find something that you would love to do even if you weren’t getting paid for it and do it.

I do this often, and find it immensely therapeutic, but you put it so well! My roommates always make fun of me for always writing but also being so unwilling to share sometimes, and it’s because I’m selfish – the story is for me, not for others. I share plenty, but some pieces are just for me!

I think I write for dual satisfaction – for both myself and the reader. I want to write stories that people enjoy and it will be immensely satisfying to know that I’ve written such work. Plus, i just really enjoy it very much.